The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, in coordination with Bahrain, has designated four Iran-based Al-Ashtar Brigades members.
Sanctions were imposed on Hussein Ahmad ‘Abdallah Ahmad Hussein Al-Dammami, Ali Abdulnabi Ahmed Ebrahim M Alshofa, Hasan Ahmed Radhi Husain Sarhan and Isa Saleh Isa Mohamed Salman for supporting AAB, including by facilitating lethal, technological and financial aid to enable terrorist operations in Bahrain.
AAB, an Iran-backed Bahraini Shia militant group, was designated as a foreign terrorist organization and a specially designated global terrorist in 2018.
According to the National Counterterrorism Center website, the group claimed responsibility for at least 20 attacks aimed at overthrowing Bahrain’s monarchy.
The island country prosecuted individuals linked to the group in 2018. Some of the individuals, however, escaped to Iran to evade prison sentences.
According to the Treasury, Tehran continues to provide a haven for terrorist groups.
Iran, designated as a state sponsor of terrorism in 1984, supports terrorist groups in Iraq, Syria and other countries in the Middle East, the Department of State said.